Nashik Diary

Tambat started the day on a buoyant note 8212; he would have been waving his colleagues goodbye after, as they say, a long and fruitful career, if it hadn8217;t been for a Nashik Municipal Corporation NMC resolution recommending a year8217;s extension for him.

There was another reason to cheer: the same day the Mumbai High Court rejected a plea filed by assistant municipal commissioner B A Khan challenging the extension granted to Tambat.

Amid the flood of joyous tidings, however, the dy civic chief missed a crucial point: The NMC8217;s recommendation was subject to approval by the Urban Development department of the State Government.

The department for its part chose the same day to fax in its rejection of the NMC8217;s recommendation, ordering the unfortunate Tambat to retire forthwith.

A staggered Tambat was forced to gather his wits and bid hiscolleagues farewell.

For the administration, all in a day8217;s work.

Picking The Right College

Two Nashik-based universities had a reason to celebrate this week. The Yeshwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University YCMOU observed its tenth anniversary, while the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences MUHS celebrated its first foundation day.

All political blessings however flowed just one way 8212; to the recently-established MUHS. Chief Narayan Rane, his deputy, Gopinath Munde, and half-a-dozen ministers descended on Nashik to wish the one-year-old institute well even as the YCMOU welcomed a solitary minister to its function.

The reason, say insiders, is that YCMOU was backed by Sharad Pawar when he was in power. The MUHS on the other hand is the dream project of State Health Minister Daulatrao Aher.

For our dynamic, with-it politicians, clearly, the past doesn8217;t matter. Not even if it concerns education.

Background Politics

Aher himself evidently doesn8217;t believe in concealing,or denying, the past 8212; his own, that is.

The minister revels in his 8220;humble origins8221;, often reminding those who care to hear that he doesn8217;t know where he was born. That his parents were illiterate. And that June 10 is the most important date in his life because that was the day the MUHS came into being.

But he is yet to clarify a certain series of advertisements released 8212; annually 8212; by his supporters in the local newspapers, wishing him a very happy birthday and a long and prosperous life!